This invention relates generally to methods, compositions and devices for removing arsenic from aqueous streams and is particularly concerned with methods, compositions and devices for removing arsenic from groundwater and drinking water using cerium in the +4 oxidation state to oxidize arsenic so it can be precipitated from the water.
Arsenic is a toxic element that naturally occurs in a variety of combined forms in the earth. Its presence in natural waters may originate, for example, from geochemical reactions, industrial waste discharges and past agricultural uses of arsenic-containing pesticides. Because the presence of high levels of arsenic may have carcinogenic and other deleterious effects on living organisms, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the World Health Organization have set the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic in drinking water at 10 parts per billion (ppb). Arsenic concentrations in wastewaters, groundwaters, surface waters and geothermal waters frequently exceed this level. Thus, the current MCL and any future decreases, which may be to as low as 2.0 ppb, create the need for new techniques to economically and effectively remove arsenic from drinking water, well water and industrial waters.
Arsenic occurs in four oxidation or valence states, i.e., −3, 0, +3, and +5. Under normal conditions arsenic is found dissolved in aqueous or aquatic systems in the +3 and +5 oxidation states, usually in the form of arsenite (AsO2−1) and arsenate (AsO4−3). The effective removal of arsenic by coagulation techniques requires the arsenic to be in the arsenate form. Arsenite, in which the arsenic exists in the +3 oxidation state, is only partially removed by adsorption and coagulation techniques because its main form, arsenious acid (HAsO2), is a weak acid and remains un-ionized at a pH between 5 and 8 where adsorption takes place most effectively.
Various technologies have been used in the past to remove arsenic from aqueous systems. Examples of such techniques include adsorption on high surface area materials, such as alumina and activated carbon, ion exchange with anion exchange resins, co-precipitation and electrodialysis. However, most technologies for arsenic removal are hindered by the difficulty of removing arsenite. The more successful techniques that have been used in large municipal water supplies are not practical for residential applications because of space requirements and the need to use dangerous chemicals. The two most common techniques for residential water treatment have been reverse osmosis and activated alumina. The former method produces arsenic-containing waste streams that must be disposed of, and the latter requires the use of caustic chemicals.
The above facts coupled with the potential for the decrease in MCL to between 2 and 10 ppb make it imperative that effective processes, compositions and devices for removing arsenic from water and other aqueous systems be developed.